It All Started With a Seconhand Snowglobe
by QuahogGoldenFestival
Summary: The title will become clear further into the story. Bernard and OC:Alice, with the help of Charlie, are sent on a mission to the mortal world and encounter a few obstacles while they're there, which are just the beginning of their troubles.


_**A/N:**_ Hey, people. This is kinda my first fanfic and it's been in my head for awhile now. It's sort of out of season, seeing as its June and all now, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

_**Disclaimer:**_ Okay, I don't own Santa Clause or any of the sequels, Bernard, Scott, Charlie, Curtis, Judy, any of the reindeer or various other elves you may or may not remember from the film. I do, however, own Alice and maybe several other characters that I will introduce in later chapters.

_**Chapter 1:**_

Jumping excitedly off of the sleigh, Scott and Charlie were quickly greeted by three happily smiling elves; Santa's head elf, Bernard – curls framing his deceptively young face and a green, velvet beret topping his colourful outfit -, number two elf, Curtis – glasses perched on the tip of his nose with his chubby face beaming – and head of reindeer care and training, Alice – adjusting her mid-thigh length, crimson and plum, velvet dress before looking to the side to grin at Santa's number one.

"Bernard!" Charlie yelled suddenly and ran forward to embrace the Arch-Elf, with Curtis silently chuckling at his comically stunned face.

"Um…hey, Sport." Bernard replied, patting the boy on the back after recovering from his initial shock. Giving her a friendly pat on the arm and a smile of thanks, Scott handed the reins of the reindeer to Alice, who gave him a warm smile and a somewhat sarcastic 'Welcome back, Santa', before he turned and laughed at the scene before him.

"Gee, don't look so surprised, Bernard. Even _**I **_missed you while I was gone." He teased, receiving a dirty look from Bernard for his troubles. Turning around at the comment, Alice halted in her whispering to and petting of the reindeer to investigate the reason behind the taunting, smiling at what she saw. Stepping forward and placing a hand on his son's shoulder, Scott whispered: "I think you can let him go now, Charlie." Letting out an embarrassed laugh, Charlie let go of Bernard and stepped back, giving him an apologetic grin before swiftly greeting Curtis and Alice.

"So, did the place fall apart while I was gone?" Scott joked, placing a hand on Bernard's back and leading him inside.

"You were only gone for a few hours, Santa. Do you really think I'm that bad at my job?" Bernard replied. Scott chuckled and looked back to check that Charlie was following. The two continued their idle chat as they strolled around the workshop with Santa occasionally handing out words of advice and wisdom to the surrounding elves. After wandering around the workshop on his own and greeting some of his old elfin friends, Charlie began to make his over to his father and friend.

"Well, Sport, I think you're the only person in the world that leaves a nice warm, summer climate to come to the North Pole." Bernard commented as the boy caught up with them.

"What can I say? I love it here…except I'll be the only kid without a tan when we get back to school."

"Well, I wouldn't be too sure about that, Sport. Our friend Alice hasn't done too badly around here in the whole 'getting a tan' department you kids are so worried about these days." Scott chuckled, not missing Bernard's – who had been previously examining the work of one the elves – swift turn of the head at the mention of her name. Upon realising he'd been spotted, Bernard turned a shade of red similar to that of Alice's dress, and looked at the floor. "Although I think it's safe to say dear old Bernard hasn't missed _**that**_, have you, Bernard?" Scott continued, giving him a little nudge and laughing with Charlie as the Arch-Elf turned an even deeper shade of red. "Speaking of which…maybe you should be going out to get some sun a little more often, instead of being a workaholic indoors all year. Despite that_**lovely**_tomato hue to your cheeks at the moment, you're beginning to look a little pale." Bringing a hand to his chin, he leant down to the elf and pretended to inspect the now frowning elf.

Bernard opened his mouth, a sarcastic comment on the tip of his tongue, but his reply was cut short as Alice suddenly appeared behind them looking flustered, annoyed and a little out of breath. Brushing away some of the dark, vision intruding strands of her side parted, chocolate brown fringe - forced down over her eyebrows by the black beanie hat on her head - she placed her hands on her hips and bent over a little in an attempt to regain her composure.

"Alice, what's wrong?" Bernard asked, concerned. Looking up at him seemingly from beneath her thick eyelashes, the annoyance on her features still going strong, she gave him a pointed look and Bernard felt that familiar twinge of anger as understanding dawned on him.

"_**Someone**_ – guess who – decided it would be a good idea to get on Chet, _**completely**_ ignoring my 'expert' advice. And now he's hurtling through the air at 60mph, and as much as I hate to say it, I think you should come and give him a hand, Santa. Now come on, people. " Scott and Bernard shared a look, before receiving a frustrated prompt from Alice to move. "Would you like to join me or should we just let him fall to his doom?" At this, the three began to follow behind Alice, who was beginning to jog back to the scene. As she noticed their lack of haste, she spun around to face them again. "Uh, _**run please.**_ Thank you." Grimacing a little, Bernard began to run after her, followed by Scott and Charlie. As they neared the stables again, the sounds of childish gasps and cries for help began to reach their ears, and they began to speed up their pace. Finally reaching the scene, the three skidded to a halt behind Alice, who had apparently given up on helping Curtis and had opted instead to folding her arms in front of her chest, with a furious and unimpressed look upon her face.

"I warned him. I did. I told him: 'Don't get on Chet, Curtis; it'll only end in tears.' But did he listen? Oh no. He got on the reindeer anyway…the little…" Alice trailed off with a frown into mutters, as Scott, Charlie and Bernard looked frantically between her and the now airborne Curtis.

"Well can't you do something?!" Bernard cried, watching his underling flail through the air with horror. An outraged look crossed her face.

"Don't you think I've tried?! Chet, to say the least, is not one of my finest trainees. Sweet little guy, though…" her affection for the reindeer she worked with every day allowed her to forget her anger for a moment, before she was snapped back to reality by Scott clearing his throat. "He's on a constant sugar-high, despite his sugar-free diet. But somehow, we've managed to tone that down a little so that Santa – 'the pro' – can just about fly with him when necessary." Turning away from Bernard to the elf-in-the-sky, she raised her voice and continued. "**But are you Santa, Curtis? No. What you are is stuck flying out of control, through the air on a crazed reindeer!**" Curtis, who was swooping near the crowd at the time, merely glared at her in response, before another cry of fear escaped his lips as Chet did a mid-air somersault.

Placing a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down, Bernard leaned the other way to try and explain her mood to a startled looking Charlie.

"Um…Alice is very protective of the reindeer…and a little prone to violent mood swings…" he whispered, before glancing at Alice to ensure she hadn't overheard. "Personally, when it's directed at Curtis I don't blame her." He finished. After moments of assessing the situation, Scott sprung into action, showing yet again why he was the best Santa the elves had had in centuries.

"Alright, Alice, I'm gonna need a hand here." He began. Despite her previous attitude towards the situation, the young elf nodded without hesitation and looked to him for her next instructions.

"Good. Now, we're gonna need two reindeer-"he was cut off as Alice let out two loud, but differently pitched, whistles, and Comet and Blitzen hurried towards them from the stables. Comet immediately went to Santa, who hopped on quickly, with Blitzen heading straight for Alice.

Within seconds, the two were in the air and flying towards the blissfully unaware Chet and the terrified and screaming Curtis, silently thanking Mother Nature that Chet wasn't doing a loop-de-loop at the time. An almost telepathic-like bond seeming to have formed between them, as both Scott and Alice were wordlessly approaching the crazed reindeer on opposite sides, flanking him as if they were his bodyguards.

From the ground, the spectators quickly figured out Scott's plan, many finding the tension too much to bear and averting their eyes; Bernard among them.

"Oh, I can't watch this." He exclaimed and covered his eyes, but Charlie was too transfixed on the scene to tear his eyes away.

Scott and Alice were, by now, right beside Chet and Curtis, with Alice trying to calm Chet down whilst reaching for the reins and Santa turning to speak to Curtis.

"Now, Curtis, when I count to three I want you to jump over to me, okay?" he explained soothingly, trying to calm down the now almost hysterical elf. Curtis, however, was too terrified to speak, let alone move at the time, and just continued to stare at Santa fearfully.

"C'mon, Curtis, I know you can-" Suddenly, Chet let out a deranged giggle and bucked violently, almost throwing Curtis off and forcing him to tug violently on the reins to prevent his fall. At the abrupt pull on his head, Chet swooped left, sending a hoof whizzing past Alice's face and leaving her with a large graze across her cheek. A huge gasp could be heard from the crowd, causing Bernard to spin round to see what the commotion was about. All the colour drained from his face as he saw Chet dive past Alice, nearly sending her flying.

Startled, she wobbled a little on Blitzen before raising a hand to her cheek, wincing as her hand touched the wound, and held it in front of her face to see blood.

"Well that's always a good sign." She muttered to herself, before shaking her head to try and shake away the dazed feeling. After giving Santa a nod that she was okay, they flew after Chet and Curtis again, this time managing to grab hold of his reins.

"Alright now, Curtis. On the count of three-"Scott stopped as he saw Curtis shaking his head vigorously. "You'll be fine, Curtis. Now c'mon." But he continued to shake his head and grip Chet's reins tightly. Scott was yet again about to try to encourage the small elf, but was cut off by an aggravated Alice.

"Curtis, if you don't jump **_right _**now I swear-"At this, Curtis jumped into Santa's outstretched arm; the latter quickly descending back to the ground afterwards and deposited the small elf onto the ground.

"Curtis, are you all right?" Bernard asked, kneeling down to his number two and showing rarely glimpsed compassion towards the elf. After receiving a quick nod, he reverted back to his old self and began to berate him. "How could you be so stupid, number two? You know how unstable Chet is! When someone tells you **not **to do something, you listen! Got it?" Curtis merely glowered at him in response, before nodding again at the stern look both Bernard and Scott were giving him.

The three turned, however, as they heard hooves land on the ground and insane giggling fill the surrounding air, followed by a disgruntled 'Don't bother, its just a scratch.'. Four elves stepped forward to lead the reindeer away, one clinging to each side of Chet and the other two quietly leading the now exhausted Comet and Blitzen back to the stables. Their attention was diverted suddenly away from the reindeer as a sharp yelp left Curtis' mouth. They glanced at him just in time to see him yanked to his feet by the ear and dragged away by a furious Alice.

"What did I tell you, Curtis?! If you had just listened to me in the first place, none of this would have happened! It serves you right for being thick enough to get on him in the first place!" came her angry yell.

"I just wanted to ride a reindeer!" Curtis whined in return.

"_**CHET?!**_"

"You let _Bernard _ride a reindeer!"

"Not **CHET**! And besides, he's older, more experienced and more _sensible_ than you. Plus he's the head elf. And don't expect any cocoa or cookies from Abby for the next _**month**_."

Scott, Bernard and Charlie remained in the same spot, watching Curtis and Alice's retreating forms with amusement.

"And they never saw him again." Bernard commented in an overdramatic and almost narrative voice, earning a laugh from Scott and Charlie as the three made their way back inside.

**_A/N:_** Well, that's it for now. Reviews, people, reviews! :D


End file.
